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This paper reports on investigations of elastic scattering reactions involving both, one proton-rich and one neutron-rich radioactive nuclei, 8B and 9Li respectively. These investigations highlighted the effects that the peculiar nuclear structure of these nuclei has on the reaction dynamics.

The paper discusses reaction experiments with low energy post-accelerated radioactive beams that investigated the role of halo structure and neutron excess on the reaction dynamics. Reactions induced by neutron-halo and proton-halo are compared and the dissimilarities in the reaction dynamics emerging from the differences in the nuclear structure are analysed. The case of neutron-rich nuclei is also discussed in particular the presence of resonances in the elastic scattering excitation function arising from the extended surface layer characteristic of these nuclei.

In this contribution, a preliminary analysis of the first part of the experiment S2012 conducted at the ISAC-II facility of Canada’s particle accelerator center TRIUMF in Vancouver will be presented. The experiment aims to study highly clustered structures of nuclei created in multi-nucleon transfer reactions of 9Li radioactive beam on natural boron target (11B and 10B). The main objective of the experiment is to study exotic structures created in neutron-rich 16C nucleus in the range of higher excitation energies. The analysis presented here probes the existence of exotic cluster configurations and the quality of detected results using the invariant mass techniques.

The unique opportunity presented by 10B + 10B reactions to study high-energy, high-spin states in the A=10 mass region is explored. Results from the measurement at 72 MeV are presented, the most important being new and rarely seen states in the 12C [1] and 13C [2], which motivate targeted future experiments. In particular, a new state of 12C at Ex = 24.4 MeV is strongly populated in the triple α-particle coincidences, while the rarely seen state at Ex = 30.3 MeV is found to be strong in the d+10B decay channel, reinforcing the previous suggestions that it has the exotic 2α+2d molecular structure [3]. Regarding the 13C nucleus, a potentially novel state at Ex = 19.0 MeV is prominently observed in α+ 9Be coincidences and demonstrates a well-defined cluster structure. Lastly, high-spin states in mirror nuclei pairs 9Be-9B, 10Be-10C and 11B-11C populated in the presented measurement are explored.

Neutron induced reactions on stable and unstable nuclei play a significant role in the nucleosynthesis of the elements in the cosmos. In the last years, several efforts have been made to investigate the possibility of applying the Trojan Horse Method (THM) to neutron induced reactions mostly by using deuteron as “TH-nucleus”. Here, the main advantages of using THM will be given together with a more focused discussion on the recent 7Be(n,α)4He and the 14N(n,p)14C reactions.

Fluorine is one of the most interesting elements in nuclear astrophysics. Its abundance can provide important hints to constrain the stellar models since fluorine production and destruction are strictly connected to the physical conditions inside the stars. The F 19 (p,α)16O reaction is one of the fluorine burning processes and the correction evaluation of its reaction rate is of pivotal importance to evaluate the fluorine abundance. Moreover, the F 19 (p,α)16O reaction rate can have an impact for the production of calcium in the first-generation of Population III stars. Here, we present the AsFiN collaboration efforts to the study of the F 19 (p, α)16O reaction by means of direct and indirect measurements. On the direct measurements side, an experimental campaign aimed to the measurement of the F 19 (p, α 0 , π )16O reaction is ongoing, taking advantage of the new versatile arrays of silicon strip detectors, LHASA and ELISSA. Moreover, the Trojan Horse Method (THM) was used to determine the F 19 (p, α 0 )16O reaction S(E)-factor in the energy range of astrophysical interest ( E c m ≈ 0–1 MeV), showing, for the first time, the presence of resonant structures within the astrophysical energy range. THM has been also applied for the study of the F 19 (p, α π )16O reaction; data analysis is ongoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inverse-kinematic thick-target method has been used in order to investigate 212Po alpha-structure by the elastic scattering of 208Pb on 4He target. A 208Pb beam, accelerated by the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) of Laboratori Nazionali del Sud - INFN, at the incident energy of 10.1 A MeV was impinging onto a specifically designed 4He gas cell, two meter long. The gas cell wasacting both as target and as beam degrader, stopping the beam before reaching the alpha-particle detection system placed at 0° with respect to the beam axis. In order to disentangle the elastic contribution from other reaction channels (e.g. inelastic scattering) a microchannel plate was used to measure the Time of Flight(ToF) of both the 208Pb beam particles and the ejectiles along the gas cell. The 208Pbstopping power in the 4He gas target was also measured, as a key ingredient in order to establish theinteraction point inside the gas cell, in turn determining the solid angle covered by the detector. In the following, the experimental technique will be described, and the results of a preliminary data analysis will be shown.

The 10B+10B reactions are measured at beam energies of 50 and 72.2 MeV. The large spin of 10B nucleus (Jύ= 3+) makes this reaction particularly suitable to populate high spin states in the exit channels. Population and decay of different states in A≈10 mass region is studied, and the results are discussed from the structure point of view. In particular, a new state in 12C at Ex= 24.4 MeV is observed to be strongly populated in the triple α-particle coincidences.

In the present paper it is described an analysis procedure suited for experiments where cross-sections strongly varying with energy are measured using beams having large energy dispersion. These cross-sections are typically the sub-barrier fusion excitation function of reactions induced by radioactive beams. The large beam energy dispersion, typical of these experiments, can lead to ambiguities in the association of the effective beam energy to the reaction product yields and consequently to an error in the determination of the excitation function. As a test case, the approach is applied to the experiments 6Li+120Sn and 7Li+119Sn measured in the energy range 14 MeV ≤ Ec.m. ≤28 MeV. The complete fusion cross sections are deduced from activation measurements using the stacked target technique. The results of these experiments, that employ the two weakly-bound stable Li isotopes, show that the complete fusion cross sections above the barrier are suppressed of about 70% and 85% with respect to the Universal Fusion Function, used as a standard reference, in the 6Li and 7Li induced reactions respectively. Moreover, the excitation functions of the two systems at energies below the barrier, do not show significant differences, despite the two systems have different n-transfer Qvalue.

Within the European Partitioning & Transmutation research programs, infrastructures specifically dedicated to the study of fundamental reactor physics of future fast neutron-based reactors are very important. In this respect, an Accelerator Driven System low-power prototype, based on a 70 MeV proton beam impinging on a thick Beryllium converter, was recently proposed and designed within the INFN-E project. The world data on neutron yield from Be target are scarce in this proton energy range. This lack of data calls for a dedicated measurement which was performed at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, covering a wide angular range, from 0 to 150 degrees, and an almost complete neutron energy interval, from thermal up to the beam energy. In this contribution the results are discussed together with the description of the proposed ADS facility.

Within European Partitioning & Transmutation research programs, infrastructures specifically dedicated to the study of fundamental reactor physics and engineering parameters of future fast-neutron-based reactors are very important, being some of these features not available in present zero-power prototypes. This presentation will illustrate the conceptual design of an Accelerator-Driven System with high safety standards, but ample flexibility for measurements. The design assumes as base option a 70 MeV, 0.75 mA proton cyclotron, as the one which will be installed at the INFN National Laboratory in Legnaro, Italy and a Beryllium target, with Helium gas as core coolant. Safety is guaranteed by limiting the thermal power to 200 kW, with a neutron multiplication coefficient around 0.94, loading the core with fuel containing Uranium enriched at 20% inserted in a solid-lead diffuser. The small decay heat can be passively removed by thermal radiation from the vessel. Such a system could be used to study, among others, some specific aspects of neutron diffusion in lead, beam-core coupling, target cooling and could serve as a training facility.

In this paper a “pedagogical” description of the scattering of two colliding nuclei is given. Some essential concepts are introduced, like the cross-section definition and the basic ingredients of scattering theory, which are preparatory for the discussion on the optical model. Phenomenological optical potentials are described, like the Woods-Saxon and the double-folding potential, highlighting their limits and the modifications that have been introduced in order to explain the new features that have emerged from experimental data with radioactive beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]